We hope you can attend some of our upcoming events in Q1 2019. Please check the list of upcoming events in this newsletter. Please also make sure to visit the Media & Events page on our website for up-to-date event schedule and registration information. We look forward to connecting with many of you in 2019!

Cash flow management is one of the most daunting tasks of any startup at any stage in its lifecycle. Cash is generally a scarce resource that needs to be managed efficiently, as any new cash influx usually means the current shareholders lose some of their share in company to the new investors. There are some common misconceptions and myths surrounding the cash utilization in a startup (known as the "burn rate"). More often than not, startups think they are doing the right thing while inadvertently burning cash the wrong way. Moreover, founders and investors can have different incentives when it comes to funding for growth; so when framing the question about what is the right pace or what is the optimal cash burn rate, it's really a question of what is the business model, what is the exit strategy and how quickly you plan to grow the company. The best practices laid out in this blog were learned through working and interacting with hundreds of startups from Silicon Valley and around the world. These are universal lessons that should help improve cash flow management and lead to better outcomes for founders and investors alike.

The Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) issued its
Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress ("Annual IP Report) this month which describes this Administration's four-part strategic approach to promote and protect intellectual property. Much of the Annual IP Report focuses on the impact of IP Theft and the efforts of this Administration to enforce intellectual property rights. Surprisingly, the Annual IP Report includes only one page highlighting the significant role intellectual property plays in the U.S. economy. In this blog, we explore the role that intellectual property and IP-intensive industries play in our economy and discuss whether an approach that focuses on IP Theft which costs an estimated 1%-3% of the U.S. GDP may disrupt IP-intensive industries that account for roughly 40% of U.S. GDP.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office releases new report on trends and characteristics of U.S. women inventors

The USPTO released the report titled "Progress and Potential: A profile of women inventors on U.S. patents," which shows trends in U.S. women inventors named on U.S. patent grants. The data is reported from 1976 through 2016 and shows that women are still a small minority of patented inventors in the U.S. Some of the key findings include that the share of patents that include at least one woman inventor has increased from 7% to 21% from the 1980s to 2016. The study also found that women are less likely than men to be an individual inventor on a granted patent. Overall, the report highlights an untapped potential of women to spur innovation in the U.S.

A long-standing rivalry UC Berkeley and the Broad Institute may be heating up as the USPTO might soon grant the University a patent on the revolutionary gene-editing technology, CRISPR. The Broad Institute, a research center affiliated with MIT and Harvard, currently holds patents on CRISPR, which could eventually revolutionize the treatment of diseases, crop engineering and other areas. This particular patent is the first ever filed application for a CRISPR-related patent; however, the first patent grant still belongs to the Broad Institute. In 2015, the University of California unsuccessfully filed a petition against the Broad Institute's patent.

In 2017, PXG filed a lawsuit claiming that TaylorMade's P790 irons violated PXG patents. The irons feature a hollow design and a polymer-foam filling. The technology ultimately allows for a thin faced structure and dampened vibration. In response, TaylorMade initiated a countersuit. In total, the lawsuits involved 23 patents. The proceedings had reached a point in which both companies appeared to be in jeopardy of having patents invalidated, which likely played a role in the cross-licensing announced by the club makers.

New Jersey based Tru Kids Inc., dba Tru Kids Brands, has officially emerged as the new parent of the Toys "R" Us, Babies R Us, Geoffrey the Giraffe, and more than 20 other toy and baby brands. The company is led by Richard Barry, the former global chief merchandising officer at Toys "R" Us, in addition to several other ex-Toys "R" Us executives. The team hopes to re-capture the significant gap left in the U.S. market this past holiday season, and continue to provide the trusted Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us experiences to consumer. The company will also focus on global markets through international partners that are set to open 70 stores this year in Asia, India, and Europe, in addition to the development of new e-commerce platforms in several markets.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is commonly defined as the simulation of intelligent human behavior in computers. According to the PwC Global AI Study, AI has the power to change almost everything about the way we do business-and could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Certain areas of AI have already progressed at an accelerated pace over the last decade, along with the advent of enabling technologies such as computing power, big data analytics and networking capabilities. AI systems are being deployed across a broad range of industries, from healthcare to robotics to autonomous vehicles. Foresight president, Efrat Kasznik, will moderate a panel of AI pioneers, technology investors, and licensing experts who will provide valuable insights related to the technology and IP landscape surrounding innovations in AI.

This two-part series explores the fundamentals of financial modeling and valuation involving startups and emerging technologies, and how to leverage your intellectual property (IP) portfolio for funding and growth. The talks will be given in Palo Alto (hosted by the
Procopio office in Palo Alto) and broadcast to a broad international audience. Registration links are coming up on
Access Silicon Valley.

Part 1 in the series,
Telling Your Story with Numbers: Building a Fundable Financial Model, lays the foundation for the creation of a balanced, realistic and fundable financial model, while highlighting some of the pitfalls to avoid when presenting your financial plan to investors.

Part 2 in the series,
Monetizing Innovation: Leveraging Intellectual Property for Funding and Growth, explores the interaction between IP assets and corporate value, and how to manage your IP portfolio to support funding and growth.

Efrat Kasznik, President of Foresight Valuation Group, Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Chair of the High Tech Sector of the Licensing Executives Society (USA-Canada), will share insights from her 25 years of experience as an IP valuation and strategy expert, as well as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, CFO, investor and advisor. Throughout her career, Efrat has advised hundreds of companies of all sizes and across a wide range of industries, on how to extract value from innovation.